How would you solve the military recruiting challenges currently facing DOD?

Amn Roger Omberg - Well Roger, congratulations on supporting a draft dodging liar. Don never supported the military in any way. Don supported Don in any way that was convenient for him. Remember when he said that not getting STDs was his Vietnam? I was drafted in 1967 as he was dodging. Maybe the bullet took was intended for him?Respecting him is disrespecting every other soldier from that era.

SPC Michael Tierney I see who you are adamantly against. Who do you support?

LT. Jesse said I would build a force focused on winning wars, & YOU have a problem with that? Also, I don't care what U think, but we Americans do have the constitutional right of free speech! AH ALL OF YOU, COMMUNIST IN ANY COUNTRY WANTS & NEEDS TO CONTROL EVERY ONE & EVERY DAMNED THING THAT IS VERY REASON FOR THE 2nd AMENDMENT BUTTERCUP!!! Best put UR head on a pedestal. Also, I served from 1960 till 1964, wherever THE USAF SENT ME., honorably discharged...

Amn Roger Omberg - Free speech doesn't mean "free lies". Have you ever been to China? Cuba? Viet Nam? All purported commie countries. But we are getting VN preferred status that will grow our trade and technology exchanges. This should have happened fifty years ago. Cuba? We handed them to Russia when we suddenly refused to buy their sugar or sell them anything including gas and oil. Their choices were Russia or Russia. China is self imploding with Xi's stupid obsession with power and nationalism. Their economy is sputtering, their real estate values are plummeting and their population is shrinking along with too many old people and no jobs for young people.When I first started to do business there 30+ years ago, the people were happy and optimistic. That perspective has changed. They still love their country but they don't feel as positive about the future for themselves or their child.
Yours truly,
Buttercup

Agree with this. There are a lot of service jobs in the military that don't require you to be young and spry and a good shot.

I'm far more qualified to do my MOS now than I was when I served. But I couldn't rejoin now. (Also, I'd struggle to squeeze into my uniform!)

HA!HA!, WE all get the point. IT doesn't hurt to laugh every once in a while.

PFC Brooke Tunstall -
I MAY Be Old And Slower To Move,
But My AIM Is Still EXECELENT

SGT Robert Reid - Yep. I'm not aware of any involuntary "Recall to Active Duty" personnel, there were a large number of voluntary reentries under the Retiree Recall program, especially for medical personnel, in the last few years.

I remember seeing an article back in 2021 that DoD was asking for the statutory limit of how many could be brought back on to be raised.

COL Randall C. yes Sir. I was only made aware by a fellow retiree. Thinking of giving them a few more years. As it stands now it is voluntary.

“Pick me pick me!”
The problem is that guys like me are deemed a liability due to a prior spinal fusion. Never mind the 296 APFT and successfully completed RIP under my belt because I wanted to prove that I can do the job. When the day comes that we have another draft, I’ll be first in line to give my middle finger. Ironically, OSHP takes guys like me all day long.

Start with getting rid of Biden and the whole administration. Biden is a weak president and the world is laughing at the U.S. young people don't want to serve and die over his failed policies. Put Trump back in office. He was the strongest president since Reagan.

LMAO~~~
I LOVE Your Comment Because You're Absolutely Correct AND I'd NOT Thought About That Previously !! I Hope You Don't Mind, But I'm About To Steel Your Comment,
And Do Some Recycling Of It....THANK YOU ~~ It's A Real Beauty.

Go for it, I just hope the right subjects take advantage of this idea. We have enough misfits in the military

SP6 Peter Kreutzfeldt - Right Peter. It seems many commenters believe the military is full of patriots that are there to thwart communism or terrorists or some other real or perceived enemy of the US. There were plenty of misfits when I was in the Army in 1967. It seemed the RA guys were there to get away from something (maybe prison) and the draftees were there because they got drafted.
I have friends who think they are big supporters of the military but when I ask if they want their boys to enlist, the answer is "no". They want the poor black, brown or white kid to enlist but not their college educated son.

That is correct, IF they can make the cut!

Mistreated by the VA? Not me. The VA in Minneapolis and in Loma Linda have been excellent. The staff and the physicians are respectful and the dervice is great. Maybe you, like many of the critics, have never been in a VA facility?

SPC Michael Tierney - There are good VA facilities and there are poor ones. Being a vet since 1977, there have been many VA employees retire since then. However some of the VA rules have not. I would not even want to think of the number of PTSD claims that have been filed in the last ten years and the the so-called standards that have to be met to qualify just to mention one big problem the VA has and hag not handled very well. I am glad you received good treatment in Minneapolis. I won't say the same about Cleveland in the 80's.

Sgt Jake Jones Yes, that's why they're short on meeting their quota. Haha

This is honestly the best response here. As somebody that joined the military a little bit older, I completely relate. Even tho I grew up in a military family and knew the military sucked, I had no idea how absolutely terrible it would actually be until I got to my unit. It was terrible in ways I had never imagined and I was only, even as a SPC, earning half of what I earned as a civilian. It's not always about having a shitty leader in combat, but the actual day to day life is absolutely fucking awful.

You sound like a bellyaching ninny.

Oh, those poor young people and their shattered expectations! Whatever shall they do? Here’s a fucking news flash for you, cupcake: SERVING doesn’t mean being served. War IS hell, and it’s full of suffering, so if you’re joining and you don’t know this basic tenet of military purpose, then it doesn’t matter how intelligent you are, you’re too ignorant to be of any real use right out of the gate.

Why does everyone deny what is so obvious? There are tough, smart warriors out there willing to be developed into Soldiers and Marines. If only the Army and USMC still believed that and held up to that ideal. But this “we have to pamper them and be less strict” approach has been around for a while. It’s not helping, which is clearly evidenced in the recruitment/ or lack thereof, rather. The rot goes much deeper than that. Every time I turn on a TV I hear and see things like “the US is more racist than it’s ever been” or “the US has a long history of colonialism and oppression”. Patriotism is at an all time low, and we can place the blame for that squarely on wars for profit, corrupt politicians, and a cultural shift that caters to fat, weak, illogical idiots with blue fucking hair that have made entire careers out of pissing and moaning. And these are the people we’re trying to recruit. Gee, wonder why it’s not going so well?

There are plenty of men and women fit for duty, but the military is no longer fit for them. That’s the problem. I know plenty of young men and women (you know, the old school biological meaning of those words) that WANT to join something LIKE what the military USED to be, but refuse to be a part of the shameful mockery of nonsensical bullshit it has become. Exhibit A: https://youtu.be/eyPI0LZVCf0?si=XJixLvdDcf3nCmiB

You actually think this is going to attract warriors that want to selflessly serve an ideal that they see as greater than any individual? Contemporary US military is RIFE with this destructive, divisive, backwards, clown show, social justice drivel.

Your perspective is a joke. Brush up on your Russian and Mandarin sweetheart. The people worthy of the oath of office ain’t joining this poor, sad, flabby, lackluster excuse for what used to be the world’s most capable and revered fighting force. They’ll still fight like hell, no doubt, but it won’t be in uniform and amongst the military’s ranks, because the modern military is beneath them. So have fun with trying to put whiny pissant liberal twats into jobs that were never meant for them. Seems to be going swimmingly so far. This site sucks, and your perspective is myopic and self-defeating.

If any of this offends you-GOOD. If it offends you enough to come find me- GOOD. Look me up and I’ll show you the type of man the USMC used to create. ;-)

This will be the last time I post. Heed the advice or ignore it at your detriment.

"Sweetheart"? You would refer to a fellow NCO with such a dismissive term. Sounds like somebody needs some remedial PT.

OOHrah!

Thanks, Sarg.

It's always good to get a REALLY MOTIVATED WARRIOR (whatever the hell that is) instead of some jackass who actually is trained and experienced in whatever staff function to which he's assigned. It's even more fun when you get a MOTIVATOR in admin or finance.

Amn Roger Omberg - Carry On. Aye Aye.

SEMPER FI!

Amn Roger Omberg - Ooh Raah

THE FEW THE PROUD!!!!! ALWAYS NO GAMES GOD BLESS YOU, & KEEP YOU.

There's a problem with the re-naming of bases, ships, and stations. These things were named as such in the same spirit of Pres. Lincoln's inauguration address. In 1860 we were a nation of sovereign states. States left the union without raising arms at all- until the Ft. Sumpter bombardment. It was assumed that states could leave just as they had joined the union and the President said NO to that. It was a different time. Yes- the issue WAS slavery, which was legal at the time, but what if Indiana or Ohio seceded on the principle of the right of states to be in the union or to quit the union? The renaming was done to soothe injury which had not existed until the woke crowd decided that there was such injury. And that, along with the gay, collectivist, and feminist crowd, is who is calling the shots now. Disagree with them? You're racist, homophobic, bigoted, and so on. It's fake and gay. No one wants to be around those assholes. Except other assholes. Just like no one wants to be around guys who harass women or people because of their race.

SFC (Verify To See) - What you are promoting is the supremacy of the federal government over the people and the States. The States and the people are in fact supreme over the federal government and States do indeed have the constitutional right to secede from the union and even abolish the government if it should become tyrannical. Read the words of the Declaration of Independence "That whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." The framers of our Constitution relied on several documents to construct our constitution and the Declaration of Independence is one of those documents. You can find in our framers writings that the States are supreme and the federal government is a limited body made from the states. Remember this ALL powers not granted the federal government nor restricted from the States belong to the States and the people within.... The power of sucession is not prohibited to the States in the Constitution neither is the power to stop a State from withdrawing from the Union granted to the Federal.